Hillhouse and Black Ant are interested in the "Sanlitun Net Red", with a single store valuation of 1 billion yuan and another 1.2 billion yuan

Wen 丨 Wang Manhua

Edited by 丨 Cao Weiyu

Source 丨Tou China Network

After a year, the "net red" beauty retail brand HARMAY Said Mei officially announced two rounds of financing in one go.

According to 36Kr, The Company completed rounds of C and D rounds totaling nearly $200 million (about 1.2 billion yuan). The latest round of The D round is led by QY Capital, followed by old shareholders such as General Atlantic (Transatlantic Investment Group), Zhong Ding Capital, Wuyue Capital, ocean Link Ouling Investment and so on. The Series C financing was led by General Atlantic, followed by Hillhouse Capital, Ocean Link Ouling Investment, Wuyue Capital, Zhong Ding Capital and Black Ant Capital.

It is worth noting that the C round of financing was as early as a year ago - according to relevant reports, in February 2021, The Company completed the C round of financing, the amount is unknown.

In addition, the latest round of lead investor QY Capital is a fresh and mysterious face. According to the past painting style, Meimei Financing is a position grabbed by well-known large institutions, and QY Capital's publicly available investment cases in the past year seem to have only one: the compound condiment brand "Add a Little Taste" A round of investment.

Looking back at December 2019, The Words Plum became famous in a battle." A round of financing Hillhouse entered the game, with only three stores, the valuation of Meimei after investment reached a staggering 500 million yuan", and even after the B round, there was even a "single store valuation of 1 billion yuan".

No matter how you look at it, the imaginary space of this retail "new species" seems to be "advanced" in advance. But as the years passed, Mei's actions have been pointing to diversification and possibility.

The words Mei herself also quietly began to invest, and the style is also the same as the words of the plum, very distinct.

4 rounds of financing in 4 years, the valuation of a single store is 1 billion yuan?

The financing rhythm of "New Species" Plum has been stable, averaging one round a year.

CVSource investment data shows that in addition to the above two rounds of financing, in December 2019, Talkmei received A round of financing led by Hillhouse Capital and followed by Wuyue Capital; in September 2020, Itmei received B round financing from Zhong Ding Capital and Black Ant Capital.

Valuations are also rising. According to the 36Kr report, after the A round, the valuation of Mei mei has reached 500 million yuan after only three stores, and according to the previous news of the investment network, after the B round, the valuation of the single store of mei has reached 1 billion yuan.

At present, Meimei has 9 stores, assuming that the valuation of a single store has not shrunk, and the overall valuation may reach 9 billion yuan. What is the concept of this number?

A brief reference is made of The colorist of KK Group, which is also a beauty collection store. According to reports, The colorist colorist is currently valued at more than US$1 billion (about 6.343 billion yuan), and according to the KK Group prospectus, as of the first half of 2021, The colorist colorist has 240 stores, which is estimated to be only about 25 million yuan per store.

Some insiders said to the analysis of the investment network that the valuation far higher than the market level has a lot to do with the unique format of the plum - highlighting a "new" word, capital is "paying" for the innovation action.

First of all, the main "small sample economy" of the plum, although it has formed a relatively mature market abroad, but it is still blank in the country, and the "originator" of the domestic "small sample economy" is considered to have created a new format of beauty retail.

In addition, unlike the same type of beauty collection stores in China, Yumei did not choose to open the store in the shopping center, but opened an independent store in the business circle, and the opening logic of the two is completely different, the latter emphasizes the "experience-oriented big store" model, which is still a "fresh product" in China. This model has higher requirements for site selection and a larger store area, which is a heavy asset investment, so the valuation will be relatively higher.

Even so, there have always been doubts about the rationality of the valuation of 1 billion yuan for the mei single store.

In this regard, Charles, director of Investment Capital, once pointed out, "The valuation of Meimei according to the 1 billion yuan of a single store may imply an overall consideration of the value of brand potential, expansion speed, and operational capabilities." In other words, capital is using money to advance the possibility of the brand's future.

Words Mei "plot change"

As a "new species", Yanmei has been questioning continuously, but it has also been actively "seeking change".

In recent years, the new actions of Talking Plum mainly revolve around several lines, such as fashion cross-border, and designers to do joint models; expand business and ecology, such as carrying out their own products, coffee and tea, etc.; and carry out investment.

In July 2020, Shemei first reached a cooperation with fashion designer Masha Ma to launch a joint T-shirt, pants, fashion satchel and shopping bag, all of which are sold in Theme's offline stores.

But co-founder Jason has said that beauty is still the biggest focus of Meimei's business, "the introduction of fashion series or other lifestyle categories, on the one hand, is to expand the brand, on the other hand, because we always put consumers in the most prestigious place."

Then there was tea and coffee. In September 2020, Meimei established Beijing Forgive Lemon Tea Catering Management Co., Ltd. and founded the lemon tea brand introlemons. In February 2021, Shanghai Talk An Coffee Co., Ltd. was established, with 60% of the shares held by Talking Mei.

In September 2021, The Company's flagship store on Wukang Road in Shanghai was officially opened. Compared with the previous positioning of "beauty collection store", Xindian Qiang tries to build a "retail plaza" that integrates beauty stores, cafes, retail and leisure. The store also has many non-beauty products, such as snacks, drinks, pet supplies and small household appliances.

For the several "changes" of The Talking Mei, the outside world generally believes that this is a new story that it wants to make up for the shortcomings in the supply chain through business diversification and to improve the repurchase rate and customer unit price.

All along, the main "small sample economy" of the word Mei, its supply chain, supply of goods are the focus of external doubts.

At present, the business model of Yumei mainly relies on the "small sample" of large brands to drain the flow, and relies on small and medium-sized brands to pull up profit margins. At present, its core products are mainly divided into three categories: big brands and formal wear, overseas niche brands and local boutiques, and its own brand "Harmay Concept" (mainly "high repurchase rate products" such as cotton pads and face towels). Among them, the ratio of large brands to small and medium-sized brands is 6:4.

According to Ju Chunmao, a partner of Talk Mei, in an interview with the media, "At present, Talk Mei has obtained authorization from more than 200 brands, but all of them are small and medium-sized brands. All major international brands for sale are not authorized. At present, the procurement channels of Meimei's big brand products mainly rely on department store counters and department stores downstream trading companies. ”

The lack of brand authorization means that there is greater uncertainty in the supply chain. Tiger Sniff also pointed out in the report that the "supply chain" problem based on the small sample is already a "must problem" for investors when communicating with the senior management of Yumei.

However, investors who pay attention to consumption pointed out to The Investment Network that it is obviously unrealistic to rely on value-added services such as joint names and tea drinks to make up for the shortcomings in the main business. "Only by truly solving the problems existing in the main business can we achieve long-term development."

The above-mentioned investors said: "At present, the prices of big brands in the market have been very transparent, the gross profit space is limited, and although the gross profit of the small sample is high, there are large unstable factors in the supply chain." Therefore, in the future, the focus of The mei's efforts should be on its differentiated competitive advantage, that is, the ability to explore niche brands and new brands and pricing power. ”

Mummy probably realized this as well. In addition to its own business, Meimei is building a moat by investing in this "weapon".

Quietly do CVC, beauty, skin care, fragrance are all in range

The impression of the outside world talking to Mei is still stuck in the "small sample paradise", but Mei has been silently investing for a year.

Tianyancha shows that as of now, the main body of the company "Beijing Yumei Lexiang Technology Co., Ltd." has invested in nearly 10 new consumer brands, and the shots are mainly concentrated in 2021, involving skin care, health care, fragrance and other subdivisions.

The earliest investment dates back to October 2020, when Meimei exclusively invested in the Pre-A+ round of financing for skincare brand PMPM Global Formula. PMPM has completed 4 rounds of financing in 13 months, and investors include well-known VCs and Internet giants such as Source Code Capital, Black Ant Capital, Xinyi Capital, and Tencent.

Coincidentally, a month ago, Mei Mei just received a B round of investment from Black Ant. The two are in the same frame of investment, or there is a possibility of linkage with shareholders black ants, but Mei's first shot did invest in the hot projects where first-line institutions gathered.

And PMPM is not a purely financial investment. After The Word Mei entered the shares, PMPM became the first domestic skin care product brand that entered the house.

Perhaps thanks to the deep industry, the investment sense of plum is very keen, there are two projects, the word plum is the earliest investor, namely "Mei Yu Gao" and "ME Ft. WE", both of which are domestic fragrance brands. Through browsing the flagship store of Jiemei Tmall, the investment network found that two products have now been settled in the store of Jiemei.

In February 2021, Yumei invested in the domestic ingredient skin care brand "lifelong research", which has also received investment from Black Ant Capital and Xinyi Capital.

It is worth mentioning that although the brand is relatively low-key in the market, it has gained a number of "component party" fans. The Little Red Book searched for the keyword "lifelong research", and the relevant grass planting notes have exceeded 10,000. It is not difficult to see that the brand has a deep user stickiness in the niche segment. In such a project, first, the track is deeply rooted, and second, Mei has a strong ability to subdivide niche projects. This is also one of the differentiated competitive advantages of Meimei investment.

In addition to beauty and skin care, Meimei has also invested in functional food, SaaS service providers and lifestyle new retail brands.

In August 2021, Talking Plum and Lenovo Star jointly led the Series A financing of functional food brand Minayo. Minayo main plant enzymes, whitening tablets, AG beverages, collagen jelly, etc., the company was established in August 2020, the product launch of the next month sales of more than 2 million, only one year after its establishment, its single month GMV exceeded 20 million, and successfully obtained three rounds of financing, investors include Lehua Entertainment, Northern Lights Venture Capital, etc.

In May and October 2021, It also invested in SaaS smart retail system service provider FLIPOS and lifestyle new retail brand Blanko respectively.

The former mainly provides software and hardware service systems for new retail brands. According to public reports, In 2020, FLIPOS was already a corporate customer, and invested with May 2021, and FLIPOS received investment from Hillhouse and Tencent in November of the same year.

In October 2021, Shemei invested in Blanko, a new lifestyle retail brand whose core products include coffee, French desserts, healthy light food, household items, stationery, independent magazines and small art exhibitions. Or form a linkage with the words mei to create a "space".

In addition to investing in China, Talking Mei has also extended its investment tentacles to foreign countries.

At the end of January 2021, As a minority shareholder, Itmei invested in the French natural plant skin care brand Graine de Pastel, which has now entered the flagship store of Talkmei. In November 2021, It also acquired the American makeup brand Kevyn Aucoin.

The above two brands are both overseas affordable niche brands, which is closely in line with the model of Meimei relying on small and medium-sized brands to increase profit margins.

To sum up, simply combing the portfolio of the speech plum, I vaguely see the characteristics of the word plum shot:

The investment direction is clear, around the main business, mining the skin care, beauty track of domestic and foreign niche brands, new brands, love the cutting-edge niche and in line with the tonal fit of the subdivision track, and incorporate it into their own SKU; early grasp, popular also invested; at the same time, The talking plum also tries to further create an ecological territory by investing in new retail brands such as catering and lifestyle.

In fact, the idea of expanding the brand matrix through investment is not uncommon in this industry. Similar painting styles also have perfect days, although the two formats are different, but they are improving the product matrix through investment.

As early as 2019, Perfect Diary opened the road of buying and buying, mainly laying out sectors other than the main business, such as high-end skin care brands and medical beauty brands at home and abroad, and expanding the product matrix

In 2019, Yixian E-commerce announced the acquisition of the mid-to-high-end nail beauty brand Xiao Odin;

In October 2020, Yixian E-commerce acquired high-end skincare brand Galénic from Avène's parent company Pierre Fabre Group;

In January 2021, acquired the skincare brand DR.WU Chinese mainland business;

In March 2021, acquired THE INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED HIGH-END SKIN CARE BRAND EVE LOM;

In September 2021, it acquired the micro-ecological skin care brand "Yi'an State";

On September 13, 2021, Yixian E-commerce participated in the investment of nearly 50 million US dollars in Guangzhou Inming Bio's A+ round of financing.

In contrast, The Words Mei's shot is more distinct, close to the main business, accurate and fancy. Ju Chunmao once said that HARMAY will still focus on foreign beauty brands, "this is the biggest difference of HARMAY, we have confidence in our own aesthetics and selection standards."